“Because of you, over a hundred Bayen elders and ten times as many retainers have been kept waiting for me. So you’d better have a story worth that much.”

Looking at Iel Bayen, the only duke of Tienda Bis who spoke like this, Ibi thought:

This grandmother is even more eccentric than her public reputation suggests.

As the Duke of Bayen said, Ibi had requested an audience. But given who she was dealing with, she had been prepared to be refused or made to wait a long time.

Yet unexpectedly, the duke summoned Ibi to Bayen Castle on the very day she sent the letter.

And then she says something like that.

‘As rumored, quite the nasty temperament…’

As Ibi smiled quietly at the forced shifting of responsibility, the duke went a step further and put her feet up on a stool. Then she leaned back on the sofa, even closing her eyes. It was a posture of preparing for a full-on nap.

“Well then, let’s hear it.”

The intention behind the Duke of Bayen’s words, as she spoke so well-prepared, was clear:

If you tell a boring story, I’ll fall asleep. But since you called me here, if I doze off, all the resentment from the meeting hall will be directed at you.

Faced with this blatant stubbornness, Ibi secretly swallowed a sigh. Then she gazed for a moment at the Duke of Bayen, who had leisurely stretched out her legs.

The duke, with her short white hair swept back, was dressed in a uniform-like formal attire again today. Despite being in her seventies, her body under the sharp and angular uniform was very straight. If you covered her wrinkled face, you might mistake her for a lean young man.

This spry old woman had supported Ibi as the next Holy Maiden for the past two years. Not that she had any particular fondness or friendship for Ibi. She was simply a ruthless pragmatist.

Duke Bayen had picked Ibi as the next Holy Maiden the moment she appeared. Her reasoning was very simple: since the Holy Maiden’s job is to purify water, commoner or whatever, the girl who sings the best should naturally be the Holy Maiden.

The duke’s straightforward personality was also evident in the reputation gathered by the underground sisters.

– An old war horse. Either scary or admirable.

– Not bad, but not kind either. A weirdo who’s hard to please.

– Doesn’t like anything. Liking something today doesn’t mean liking it tomorrow.

– Dislikes cowardice, incompetence, and young folks who fumble around annoyingly.

– The most common thing people in the Bayen duchy say behind her back: ‘Please retire already, Great Mother!’

Given this difficult personality, Ibi had not actively approached Duke Bayen until now. To begin with, the duke didn’t like those who tried to cozy up to her.

So they had only exchanged greetings in passing, and this was the first time Ibi had requested and received a private audience. And right from the start, she received quite an extraordinary reception.

‘As expected, all great nobles are strange…’

Though the duke was openly pressuring her, Ibi thought calmly while deliberately taking her time.

Though playing the docile commoner was already out of the question, she still needed to keep the curse well hidden. It wasn’t about being exploited as a weakness, but if news of this curse reached the Tower Lord’s ears, the bet and everything else would be finished.

Rohika Sedro, with her many sins and secrets, wouldn’t leave Ibi out in the open like this if she might reveal her weaknesses.

So Ibi quietly pondered how to persuade that picky old woman while saying as little as possible.

As the silence lengthened, the furrow between Duke Bayen’s closed eyes deepened slightly.

Only then did Ibi finally open her mouth.

.

.

.

The Duke of Bayen’s secretary, who had been anxiously waiting outside the office, greeted Ibi very awkwardly as she came out.

In response, Ibi Ariate, notorious for her two-faced nature, smiled prettily and returned the greeting as she passed by.

‘To walk around so nonchalantly…’

The duke’s secretary clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched Ibi leave after the audience. Then, suddenly coming to his senses, he knocked on the office door.

“Your Grace, you should return to the meeting hall now… Ah, Your Grace!”

The secretary carefully poked his head into the office and was startled to see Duke Bayen taking out a bottle of liquor from the display case.

“Y-Your Grace, everyone is waiting in the meeting hall…”

“The meeting is over. Tell those fellows to go home.”

The secretary’s face fell at the duke’s irresponsible statement.

Regardless, the duke stood by the window holding a half-filled glass. Then she leisurely gazed at something outside.

The secretary stamped his feet alone for a while, then approached the window with a resigned feeling. He quietly followed the duke’s gaze to see what she was looking at.

Through the window, Ibi Ariate could be seen passing through the corridor. The old duke’s gaze was following that girl precisely.

The secretary wondered what was going on, but not daring to ask directly, he mumbled timidly.

“She left sooner than expected…”

“Still, she said all she had to say.”

“Pardon?”

“Impudently, that is.”

Duke Bayen snorted as she said this. Her expression was quite fierce, but the secretary immediately recognized it. The duke was enjoying herself in a rare display.

“Well, there are widespread rumors that she’s not as innocent as she looks.”

“Innocent?”

The duke snorted again at the secretary’s naive remark. Then, downing the strong liquor in one gulp, she added:

“Talk sense. Ibi Ariate has never been innocent since she first appeared.”

“What do you mean…”

“How could a commoner from Bis who perfectly executes Tienda etiquette be innocent?”

Rather, she should be considered quite ruthless.

As the duke said this, stretching her lips into a long smile, the secretary’s face became somewhat dazed.

True to her words, Ibi Ariate had never once been criticized for her manners. Even those well-trained from childhood occasionally become the butt of jokes, but not her.

The secretary alternately looked at Ibi’s retreating back and the duke leisurely sipping her drink.

He was curious about what they could have possibly discussed in that short time to make the duke so satisfied. But there was a more pressing issue now than satisfying his curiosity.

“Um, are you really not going back to the meeting hall?”

“I’ve been drinking.”

“Even so…”

“Should I go back drunk and start a knife fight?”

The secretary flinched and closed his mouth at the duke’s irritation.

In truth, Duke Bayen had been suffering headaches because of the young ones in her family.

Iel Bayen, a soldier through and through, had devoted her youth to Bis and never married. So when she retired from active duty, she had to hand over control of the Bayen army to her nephew.

But the nephew, who became a general, lazily settled in Tienda and only managed the army occasionally through written orders. Naturally, the discipline of the Bayen army and the public security of Bis soon fell into disarray.

The duke tried to teach and torment that dim-witted nephew to somehow set things right, but from the start, he and his faction had little interest in leading the army.

Rather, they showed clear signs of annoyance, and to make matters worse, from about six months ago, there started to be talk of letting the lords of Bis directly operate the army.

That didn’t just mean washing their hands of managing Bis’s public security, but meant giving back to the lords of Bis the ability and qualification to wage war.

Enraged by this, Duke Bayen had tried to strangle her nephew just last month, saying, “If you’re so unwilling to do anything, let me start by reducing the burden of your breathing.”

Today’s meeting was also a repetition of the same agenda and the same squabbles as before.

In the midst of this, when Ibi Ariate sent a letter asking to meet, Duke Bayen called for Ibi in her irritation.

Half intending to humiliate the young ones of her family, half out of idle curiosity about the lately noisy Ibi Ariate.

So when she seated that much-talked-about and troublesome Holy Maiden candidate, Ibi opened with these words:

– I’ll prove the incompetence of the Bayen army for you.

The duke thought she must be crazy. There had already been widespread rumors that Ibi Ariate had developed a taste for fighting with the great nobles, and now it seemed it was her turn.

– I’ll also bring you reasons why military power shouldn’t be handed over to the lords of Bis.

At the following words, she almost opened her eyes in surprise.

It was a well-known fact that Duke Bayen and her nephew clashed over this issue at every turn, but it wasn’t a matter an outsider could dare comment on.

Yet how dare she.

The duke felt both indignation and interest at Ibi’s audacity. So she waited for the next words.

– But I have a favor to ask in return.

However, at the mention of a favor, the duke immediately clicked her tongue in disappointment.

How shallow.

The duke thought Ibi had come running to her because she had fallen out with Marquis Montra and was at a disadvantage. Isn’t this just starting trouble without thinking of the consequences? Moreover, thinking she had brought up Bayen’s situation for this made her even more furious.

But Ibi’s next words were far from the duke’s expectations.

– When I reveal the truth, please thoroughly punish those responsible for the matter.

What?

At these unexpected words, the duke unconsciously opened her eyes. Then Ibi said, with a somewhat brazen face she had never shown before:

– To get the meat, one must get close to eating the bones. That’s what the previous duke often said, isn’t it? I need the bones. So if you need the meat, please get close to me just this once.

Well, look at that?

The duke stared blankly at Ibi in disbelief. Then Ibi added:

– As a bonus, I’ll create another opportunity for you to tease Count Laurel.

“…It was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse.”

“Pardon?”

Leaving behind the confused secretary, the duke chuckled to herself as she mulled over Ibi’s words.

She hadn’t expected such audacity.

To dare meddle in the affairs of the ducal family, to try to use that, and even to find out about Iel Bayen’s temperament, likes and dislikes, and the words left by someone she respected, and use them for clever wordplay – it was truly audacious.

And even more audacious than all of this was Ibi Ariate’s nerve.

When someone of Duke Bayen’s stature closes their eyes and endures in front of them, even fairly high-ranking nobles tend to become flustered or hesitate.

But Ibi, far from being flustered, kept her mouth shut and waited patiently. Then, just when the duke was starting to feel impatient, she casually threw out words that were nothing short of provocative.

Truly matchless in audacity.

Duke Bayen, who had been tired of her nephew’s complacency, quite liked Ibi’s provocation.

So she decided to go along with it, at least once.

At that time, Cassel Montra was also receiving a difficult guest at his mansion.

“Welcome, little mistress of Manyanya.”

Cassel greeted the arrogant princess of the Tower with a tense face.

Miel Sedro, the heir to the Tower, had come to see Cassel without notice.

So Cassel was greatly flustered. He wondered if Ibi Ariate might have said something reckless to incite the future Tower Lord.

“Don’t be nervous. Miel, I came because I have something to teach you.”

As Cassel kept glancing around nervously, Miel whispered sweetly.

“You know, it seems Ibi’s butler is up to something in Bis.”

Then, with a face just like the Tower Lord’s, she added.

“I’d like the marquis to check what it is personally.”

It seems they’re trying to catch you, after all.

Miel swallowed these last words and smiled charmingly.